


Fractured Mirror

by Wonk



Category: Star Fox Series, Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Adventure & Romance, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2019-10-01 02:58:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17236076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wonk/pseuds/Wonk
Summary: Fox had to admit he had become pretty damn confused about what he was meant to do after just dying. With all of those new faces surrounding him, the few that were familiar represented a shore he wasn't sure he should be swimming back to.Spoilers for SSBU adventure mode ahead!





	1. Rise and Shine

    "What the fuck".  
    It was closer to a statement than a question, really. It was also the first combination of words uttered by Wolf O’Donnell after his longtime nemesis beat him to death.  
    "Morning, sunshine!", said Fox Mccloud, letting a cocky smile paint his muzzle. He stared at the lupine slumped on the floor, the mix of fear, anger, pain and, of course, confusion on Wolf's face was almost too much to bear.  
    "Mccloud? Where am I?", that lupine asked, looking around the dark glade he found himself in. His eagerness was accentuated by the rapid stream of questions he couldn't seem to stop sending, "What happened to that light guy? Why am I this fucking sore?" he groaned those last words out. He might have thrown in a few more inquiries for good measure, but he was interrupted before he could do so.  
    "One question at a time, buddy", Fox crossed his arms, "I launched you into a blast zone, for starters".  
    "So this is still Smash".  
    "Well, kinda" started Fox, offering his hand, "That light guy, Galeem, he killed everyone back on that cliff, merging our universes to create a world of his own. It seems like the same rules apply here, to some extent".  
    "What", once again, more of a statement than a question.  
    "It might be a little too much to take in in one gulp", Fox smirked, "Especially after being served such an expertly handled beatdown", Wolf was finding it hard to believe that Fox was bragging about beating him up when he wasn't even in condition to fight back, "Would you just get up already? My arm is starting to get tired".  
    The lupine put his arms on the ground and forced himself up, ignoring the hand laid in front of him, "One question at a time, huh, pup?" He said, regaining enough of his composure to try to sound intimidating again. He got closer to Fox’s face and uncovered his pointy fangs, "Let's start with why the hell would you throw an unconscious guy into a blast zone?".  
    "Oh, don’t worry, you weren’t unconscious".  
    "Yes, I very much was".  
    "No, you very much were not", The ace pilot said, pushing Wolf's chest to get him away from his face, "You were being controlled, like a puppet, I just needed to knock some sense into your head".  
    A puppet? A new world? The presumptuous grin he was still being offered wasn’t helping Wolf figure all of that out.  
    Yes, the situation was a tad unexpected, having his ground fighting skills shamed by some stupid puppeteer and, less importantly, the destruction of the multiverse wasn't exactly the type of ordeal the mercenary had signed in for when he agreed to participate in a fighting tournament. Despite that, Wolf might have been overplaying the confused part a little too much, seeing as he was still stuck in a baffled stupor, staring at his rival despite the perfectly reasonable explanation he had been offered.  
    That sequence of events shouldn’t be that surprising, anyway. Smash had presented weirder things before. That umbra witch that used her hair both to kill angels and demons and also to express her sense of style was quite an eccentric catch. Wolf couldn't stop laughing about how afraid of her the one angel that had actually joined the fight was. The other fighters were also fascinating, he remembered seeing that adorable secretary beating that rugged military operative up mercilessly, he didn’t even stand a chance. She, along with that one pink blob of cuteness that called itself a fighter proved that the cute ones were not to be messed with. He had also met the surprisingly smart leader of a group of space pirates, though he was a lot smaller in person than he expected him to be.  
    No, that's not it. What the lupine did find weird was how that interaction had been panning out. The last time he had talked with Fox had been when both of them were fighting on the same side against the Aparoid Invasion. That had been the first time they had actually teamed up against a common foe.  
    The weird part was that Wolf had been presumed dead after that event, sacrificing himself, along with his team, to give Star Fox the opportunity to destroy the Aparoid Queen.  
Of course, they were pretty damn hard to kill. They had managed to escape the situation mostly unharmed before going into hiding. A long time after that, Wolf had received a mysterious invitation for a fighting tournament that he just wasn't able to bring himself to refuse.  
    Of course, that fighting tournament, Smash, hadn't had the best of endings. Now he was in the middle of the woods, talking directly to Fox for the first time since he arrived.  
    And he couldn't for the life of him figure out if they were meant to be on good terms or not.  
    "Hey?" Fox caught Wolf’s drifting gaze with an open palm, "Are you there?".  
    "Where else would I be?", he responded, pretending he hadn't just started to doze off.  
    "It might be more helpful if I explain everything from the beginning", Fox tried, "Everyone died except for Kirby. He managed to escape in one of his flying stars and somehow ended up just fine in the new world the Lord of Light had created. He then took on a quest to save all of his friends, new and old, along with our universes".  
    "What", Wolf responded with what still didn't sound like a question, "The pink ball guy was the only survivor".  
    "You know, you really shouldn't underestimate him", Fox responded, "From what I hear, he could kill any of us with a single flick of his nonexistent fingers".  
    After a last groan from Wolf, both of them fell silent. The lupine took that time to appreciate the horrible view. A dark sky served as background for a mess of volcanoes, ruined cities and the terribly mishandled forest they were in right now. The vista was completed by miles of red and bright strings floating in the air in the form of a messy spaghetti dish. He also saw some patrolling master hands floating about. He chuckled.  
    "So, what happened to 'We can’t let a single one get away'?".  
    "It did work, you know", Fox looked at the hordes above them, "I'm pretty sure Galeem is dead, now".  
    "What", Wolf affirmed, "Then what the hell are those master hands still floating about for?".  
    "Those aren’t master hands, they’re crazy hands", the vulpine explained, "After we killed Galeem, Darkhon, his dark counterpart, came in with his own pitch for a new world", He opened his arms, as if in presentation, "The World of Dark".  
    "Wh".  
    "Would you stop with the 'whats'?", Fox almost stomped his foot on the ground, “Look, we don’t need to talk about all of this right now”, he finished with a frown.  
    “You saying you can't even handle telling me the entire story?”, Wolf provoked.  
    “That’s not the point”, Fox responded, “Your questions will be answered in time, we have more important things to worry about right now".  
    "More worrying than this shitshow?", Wolf gestured faintly towards the sky.  
    "We'll see", Fox aimed his arm upwards.  
    Starting from his fingertips, beams of light began to bleed down his arm before separating from him and taking form as a shiny and floaty orb in his front, the first font of light Wolf had seen in that world that didn't earn the status of creepy as hell. He looked closer at the orb, seeing the familiar face of one of Star Wolf’s pilots form within the object.  
    "Panther? What happened to him?", he asked, analyzing the all too familiar elegance of the pilot within the sphere.  
    "He’s been turned into a spirit", the vulpine used his hand to swat Panther a little closer to Wolf, "Only the smash fighters had the privilege of maintaining a physical form in this world, the other ones were forced to join Galeem or Darkhon’s army, possessing copies of the bodies of the fighters", he pointed at Wolf, "Panther was fighting with a copy of your body".  
    "Oh", he responded, "Can I help him, somehow?".  
    "I think so", Fox moved the spirit a little to the side, so that he could stare at Wolf, "If you give him permission, he’ll be able to return to the 'real world', or so we’ve been told".  
    "Where would that even be?", Wolf spat, "Galeem destroyed our universes, you said it yourself".  
    "Yeah, I was wondering the same", Fox responded, "The others have freed some spirits, and they sure go somewhere, we’re just not sure where".  
    Wolf stared at the orb for a while longer. He was never especially fond of Panther's unprofessional behavior, he had been employed out of necessity after his team lost Andrew and Pigma. Despite that, along with Leon, Panther was one of the few people Wolf actually believed he could trust. Having few friends was one of the hard things about his job, despite that, he could honestly say Panther had been a good one.  
    "Well, how does this work?", Wolf inquired, taking Panther and raising him up with his hand before he could receive an answer, "Um, you can go, Panther".  
    And, just like that, the orb dissolved into a streak of light once again before flying up to the sky. They both stared as it faded into the distance.  
    "There he goes. Wherever that is, it’s probably better than here", Fox completed, turning to face Wolf once again, "We should keep going".  
    "Where to?".  
    "Find more spirits, figure out where Darkhon is hiding and beat him up".  
    It was a plan more solid than just standing on that glade talking to each other, at least. They would have followed through with it if it weren't for the tiny figure that came in a desperate dash to where they were standing.  
    "Mr. Fox!", the tiny dog exulted as she caught up to them, taking a moment to straighten her green coat.  
    "Hi, Isabelle", Fox responded, before hearing more yelling from where she came from.  
    "Wait for me! You know these wings are just for show!"  
    The angel came running behind her, his debilitated wings seeming to slow him down, taking away some of the divine charm that his white and golden chiton granted him.  
    "I see you guys haven't found Palutena yet, huh, Pit?", the vulpine inquired between the apologies Isabelle muttered toward her companion when he reached them.  
    "No! I had absolutely forgotten how heavy those things get without her help!", Pit admitted.  
    "I could always borrow you a blaster if that helps compensate for the agility impairments".  
    "Thanks, Fox, but it really doesn't suit my style", he gave a thumbs up, accompanied by a face-wide grin, "Gotta strive for that sweet brand recognition!".  
    "If you insist", Fox cackled before pointing to his rival, who seemed rather irritated to not have been acknowledged for so long, "I got Wolf".  
    Isabelle looked at him and offered a hearty smile, "We're glad to have you back on our side, Mr. Wolf!", she bubbled, "I'm excited to see you fight, I've heard great things about your combat skills!"  
    "Oh, have you?", Wolf asked.  
    "Yes!", she pointed to Fox, "Fox said you were one of the greatest pilots he had ever faced! You two must make a great team!"  
    "Really?", Wolf responded as he turned to face the vulpine inquisitively.  
    Fox coughed, "Yeah, anyway", he said, turning to face Isabelle and Pit, "Weren't you two going to look for more people on that temple thing?"  
    "Well, we were but..." Isabelle started before being interrupted by Pit.  
    "But a crazy hand appeared out of nowhere and blocked the way!", the angel threw both his hands to the air.  
    "A crazy hand which we could have defeated on our own... appeared out of nowhere and blocked the way", the secretary corrected.  
    "But I don't have my wings!".  
    "I was well prepared!".  
    "So you came to ask for help?", interrupted Fox.  
    "Well, yes", Isabelle said, finally. She seemed ashamed to have to ask for help on completing a task as simple as defeating one of the greatest minions of the Lord of Darkness.  
    Wolf interjected with a laugh, "And so soon after waking up from my beauty sleep!".  
    Fox smirked at his response, "What's the matter, scared?".  
    "That's my line", for a moment Wolf actually seemed offended, "And of course I'm not scared. I'm ready to show those fuckers what I'm made of!", Isabelle almost choked at the lupine's choice of words.  
    "Well come on, then! I'll lead the way!" Pit effused, beckoning the rest of the group to follow him on his trek through the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was kinda meant to be a one shot. Now I'm here sitting on 18k+ words of an extremely self-indulgent smash fic. I'm dividing this into chapters, but this was really just written in one text file. As I'm posting this first chapter, I already have a first draft of the entire story, so I'll just keep posting the chapters as I finish unroughing them or whatever. 
> 
> This is my first time writing anything close to how big this is. It is also my first time writing something for any fic sites, so feedback is greatly appreciated.
> 
> This first chapter is more focused on establishing the setting and the relationships between the characters, so I don't have a lot of insightful commentary to make about it. I guess I kinda took some liberties on how I interpreted the spirits and the stuff related to them. A few more of my smashing headcanons slipped into later chapters, so watch out for them?
> 
> Either way, thanks a lot for reading, watch out for chapter 2


	2. A Night in the Woods

    The angel led the rest of the team through the woods. Although he didn't feel as confident as he tried to sound, Pit was willing to put himself at risk to help his new friends. He still had to rescue Lady Palutena and Pittoo, along with some others he believed must have turned into spirits.  
    He did feel somewhat powerless without the power of flight or his goddess's guidance. Still, his friends were expecting him to save them, and, weak as he might be feeling, he had to be willing to move forward if he wanted to see them again.  
    Isabelle, on the other hand, wasn't exactly in need of a pep talk. She was far stronger and more independent than most gave her credit for and, although she was already very happy on her job as a helper to the mayor, Smash presented a great opportunity to test her skills in areas other than organization and city planning. She was hardworking, ambitious, and had far more engineering degrees than she could count (that's, of course, hyperbole, she was proud of her math skills and could very well count the number of degrees she had earned). There was no dumb hand that would be able to take her on its own as long she stuck to her motto of always striving to do what's right and to help others in need.  
    Although their readiness wasn't equally matched, the angel and the secretary could certainly agree on what they were there for, and also that they could count on the people close to them.  
    Fox, however, couldn't really say the same about that last part. Well, he trusted Isabelle and Pit enough. More accurately, he didn't feel like he was comfortable blindly putting his trust in Wolf.  
    What he had told Isabelle about his rival was true, he really was an amazing pilot, though she wasn't meant to interpret it in as much of a friendly way as she did.  
    But even acknowledging that respect, It still felt very weird for them to be teaming up once again.  
    Last time they joined forces, it had been assumed that it was just a situational thing. They hadn't had time to work out what that collaboration meant to their rivalry because of Wolf's sudden disappearance at the end of the Aparoid Invasion. Now that they found themselves together once again, Fox couldn't shake the feeling that he had no idea what he and Wolf really were. Hell, even if he put their weird rivalry thing aside, Fox didn't even know who the lupine was!  
    Fox's motivation to start flying was the legacy of courage and willingness to do what's right that he was left by his father, James Mccloud, former leader of Star Fox. Now, Wolf's motivation, on the other hand, was a complete mystery, from where Fox stood.  
    From what he knew, the lupine had lived a life of crime ever since he was a kid. Fox wasn't sure where exactly Wolf had come from or what made him do the things he did. The only thing he was sure about was that they have always been connected, their rivalry was only the beginning of their shared past. Wolf had known Fox's father, and Fox himself might have turned out very differently were it not for the lupine's involvement in ending James's life.  
    Oh, yikes.  
    Yeah, Fox didn't want to think about that.  
    All of that was history, anyway, and history didn't matter anymore. Not in a world without time or past. They died and came back to life into that world, they were new people now, for better or for worse, it only depended on what they did with their new lives.  
    Perhaps, their rivalry didn't have to mean as much to their new selves, and maybe he and Wolf didn't have to hate each other so much. Maybe, for once, they could actually try to learn about each other's motivations, instead of trying to kill each other at sight.  
    Maybe he did want to know more about Wolf?  
    Of course he did not! His father's murderer? Really?  
    But it does sound somewhat nice, doesn't it? Wolf is a hell of a good pilot, maybe both of them could learn some stuff from each other?  
    What the hell? Not only was Wolf a wanted criminal, but he had also personally tried to kill Fox multiple times! They were not...  
    Thud!  
    Fox had actually tripped on a root and fallen head first into the floor. Looking forward, he couldn't identify anything except the faint voices of the rest of the group, which he had most certainly fallen behind from.  
    The vulpine lifted himself up before quickening his step to reach the rest of the group.  
    While he was being dumb in the middle of the woods, the two other canids and the angel had taken some time to engage in some dubiously productive silence.  
    Even though she was curious, Isabelle was far too respectful to break that silence and ask something about Wolf's life. That is, especially after just talking to him for the first time and especially because of the very excitable angel that was walking by their side.  
    Thankfully, that angel was just inconvenient enough to do just that.  
    "So, what is exactly the deal between you two?", Pit pried, glaring at Wolf.  
    Wolf rose a brow after pretending he hadn't been thrown off balance by the angel's sudden bickering, "You're gonna have to be a little more specific than that, kid", he responded.  
    "I mean, are you two even friends?", the angel rose a brow, "From what I remember you were the leader of a different mercenary group than Fox's. Star Wolf, right?", Wolf didn't really get the chance to nod in response before Pit continued, "I mean, they're really similar team names? Also, with the whole glorified palette swap thing you two have going on, it's kinda hard to imagine you two don't really care about each other's opinion. Not to mention the obvious...".  
    Wolf interrupted the angel's bickering with a growl, "I wouldn't call us both friends if that's what you're asking".  
    "So is it like a friendly rivalry thing?", Isabelle joined Pit in a hopeful tone, "The mayor and I can get pretty competitive sometimes, we even joined a kart race once! Rivalries can be pretty fun!"  
    "I wouldn't call it a friendly thing either", Wolf responded with a pout.  
    "Oh, that's a shame", Isabelle frowned, "He does admire you though, you must have noticed".  
    "Well, I can hardly blame him for that", Wolf grinned, leaving Pit and Isabelle to stare at each other.  
    Most fighters that joined Smash were in pretty good terms with each other, even Bowser and Mario started learning to get along after the koopa king started being invited to the parties and tennis matches the rest of the crew had.  
    Of course, there were a few exceptions to that rule, like Ridley and Samus and Link and Ganondorf. Despite knowing that, Isabelle and Pit were vehemently against this type of behavior between fighters, being some of the most excited to be invited to the tournament, they wanted to make sure everyone was having a good time. Ensuring that meant unhealthy rivalries like Fox and Wolf's shouldn't go unchecked, especially in times where collaboration was a necessity.  
    Isabelle opened her mouth to say something before Wolf interrupted her.  
    "I admire him too", he confessed, letting a hint of embarrassment cut through his detached persona for a moment before he regained his composure, "Not in a friendly way, mind you. I just think he's a good pilot, is all".  
    Isabelle mustered a smile, "A rivalry based on mutual admiration is certainly better than one based on hate alone".  
    "I guess so".  
    "Oh, I also have a rival!", Pit suddenly burst, "His name is Dark Pit, you two must have seen him, he's a fighter too!"  
    "I thought that dark winged you was just an alternate costume", Wolf said.  
    "We are technically classified as echoes of each other.", Pit mumbled.  
    "A glorified palette swap, if you will", Wolf provoked.  
    "I mean, kinda, yeah", Pit responded, "But we are very different people! Pittoo started as a clone of me, created by the mirror of truth, he used to hate me for the connection we shared. But later he realized that his so-called flaws actually made him stronger than me in a lot of aspects. He realized he doesn't have to be me to be worthy of being alive, and decided he was a servant to no other but himself! After that, he approached me and Lady Palutena again. Our rivalry and our friendship are both defined by the things that make us different!".  
    "That's cute", Wolf quipped.  
    "That's nice!", Isabelle said, almost as if in a correction, "Maybe you and Fox could use some difference based friendship too, Mr. Wolf!"  
    Wolf chuckled at the excitability of those two, "I really don't think it's that simple".  
    Isabelle's smile melted into a frown, which was soon followed by Pit's.  
    "But thanks", Wolf conceded, if only to keep those two happy, "I'll keep that in mind".  
    That seemed like enough to lift their spirits as they arrived at the end of the woods, being able to locate the fallen temple on the horizon. Marble pillars hanged decorated an area filled with piles of dust and dead plants. What seemed to have once been a beautiful garden reduced to nothing but a pile of ash.  
    "That looks... vaguely divine", said Fox, finally reaching the rest of the group, "Is that from your world, Pit? You think Palutena might be in there?".  
    "I sure hope so!", the angel exclaimed, pointing in the temple's direction, "Come on!".  
    The group followed Pit's run towards the temple in the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pit and Isabelle's addition also wasn't planned at all when I started writing this! When I realized I would have to make up some plot thing for this whole stuff to work somewhat I had to come up with some other characters. I had just watched Palutena's new guidances and also I love Isabelle with my whole heart. So although the story will focus a lot more on Fox and Wolf, I also tried to have some fun with Pit and Isabelle's characterization.


	3. Unorthodox Methods

    Much like Lady Palutena used to say, Pit's cautiousness was never one his strongest skills. He had started to run toward the temple without even thinking about why he and Isabelle had backtracked in the first place.  
    A crooked laugh roared through the sky as the group was stopped in its track.  
    "Oh, that's right", Pit remembered what they had called Fox and Wolf for, "Hold on tight, everyone!".  
    They dropped on the floor as the laugh got louder and the ground started to quake. Suddenly, underneath their feet an enormous half sphere of dirt and stone dislodged from the earth and flew up rapidly to the sky, making the team, well, mostly Pit, scream in terror.  
    As the newly created arena broke to a stop midair, a gigantic orb of red light formed around them, establishing the blast zone for the upcoming battle.  
    "Fairly sure this is against regulation!", Wolf exclaimed, tearing his claws from the ground and giving it a strong and well deserved punch before standing up.  
    "You get accustomed", responded Fox, also getting on his feet.  
    "I sure don't!", Pit yelled back, still lifting himself up.  
    The mad laugh seemed to surround the group as the blast zone started to rattle. Fox brought a hand to his blaster while Pit readied his bow.  
    Isabelle grabbed a party popper from her pocket and prepared herself to use it if necessary. The gest didn't really seem to be appreciated by their unseen host, however, as the mad laughing stopped out of a sudden, being replaced by an irritated and very strong growl, "Party pooper!".  
    A white drill then pierced the top of the blast zone and landed in the middle of the platform with a deafening noise, scraping Isabelle and sending her flying to the edge.  
    "Ouch!", she gasped, holding on the stage as she landed to look back at her attacker.  
    The drill slowed down to reveal a gigantic hand that twitched and crawled as it spun around to look at its opponents. The four of them stood cautiously on opposite sides of the platform, waiting to see what the monster would do next.  
    That is to say, all of them that had any sense of caution waited a while to see what the monster would do next.  
    A lightning fast arrow zipped through the air and hit the middle finger's knuckle, "Come on!", Pit challenged as he started running to meet the enemy.  
    The hand turned to face the tiny angel as it let the floor go and started rapidly soaring towards him with its middle and pinky fingers raised along with its thumb. As it neared, Pit dodged to the side to avoid the attack, barely making the blades of his bow connect to the thumb before it flew by.  
    Fox started running toward the monster as it flew offstage and started imitating a gun with a gesture, aiming at its winged attacker.  
    With a quick flick of its wrist, the creature's fingers exploded as a pair of gigantic bullets flew towards Pit.  
    Still recovering from the last attack, he was unable to dodge, being fiercely launched to the opposite edge of the stage as the bullets hit him. The hand twitched more fiercely, also feeling the impact of the shot.  
    Fox reached the hand and jumped offstage in front of its still burning fingers, "Fight against someone your size!", he screamed as his body became involved by a blue light, shining across the stage.  
    Another flick of the wrist caused another explosion and another pair of bullets to be fired directly at Fox's face. Only this time the bullets didn't actually send anyone flying far, they were deflected back at the hand, blowing up against it and stunning it in place for a second.  
    "I... I can also do that", Pit muttered about his guardian orbitars as he started lifting himself up.  
    After shaking out of its daze, the hand began making circles around the stage as it tried to find a safe way back on it.  
    "Come on, now!", Wolf ran to the edge and flashed his body atop the hand, completing the motion with a slash of his claws, "I wanna see what you're really made out of!", he barked as he settled himself atop the beast and started clawing more vigorously.  
    The hand started spinning once again, throwing Wolf off balance and back on the stage. It didn't seem to take the attack well, though. Its movements started becoming shakier and shakier before it crashed down on the center of the stage with an ungodly scream, the twitch of its index finger being the only visible form of movement.  
    Isabelle and Pit were the first ones to run to attack it, the secretary blew a party popper in the thumb while the angel wailed on the wrist.  
    "Wait", Isabelle warned, before dodging away from the hand, "Pit, get out of there!"  
    "No way! This thing is gonna feel my wrath!", he exulted, finally being in a good position to get a few good hits in. That was before the purple flames that grew beneath the creature became more evident and it started convulsing more forcefully, "Oh", that was all Pit could say before the hand shook the ground with a complete spin, making him fly away to the edge once again.  
    Only this time he flew past it.  
    This wouldn't have been much of a problem, were Lady Palutena still by his side. Except this once she wasn't, and his wings, the ones that he could use to prevent himself from falling to his demise, couldn't do anything to save him now.  
    "Oh, no", he said finally, letting his body fall down to the red net below him.  
    As he looked down the approaching blast zone, he realized that he had failed his mission. Lady Palutena, Pittoo and all the others from his world were counting on him to be their savior from the forces of the dark. The truth was, they really shouldn't have trusted him to fight without his friends by his side.  
    The one time he hadn't had Palutena there to help him, Viridi had been there instead, and even then, he would have died, were it not for Dark Pit's efforts.  
    This time he was alone, in a world that the gods themselves had abandoned, left to face the fact that he was nothing without them. Pit had but accepted his fate to be once again possessed by Darkhon before he felt a sting in his neck.  
    "Ow!", he yelled back at the sting.  
    "Sorry!", the sting yelled back at him.  
    He looked back to see the end of a fishing rod piercing his robe and brushing against his neck. Back on the platform was Isabelle, pulling him back to the edge.  
    "Isabelle!", he yelled as he grasped the ledge, "Thank you so much!".  
    "Just doing my job!", she responded with a smile, "Come on!", she finished, turning back to face their enemy.  
    He really wasn't strong enough to do everything on his own, but maybe that wasn't the point.  
    Everyone had their own faults. He had gained allies other than his goddess, and as long as they were by his side, Pit believed he could marshal the strength to protect them as well as the humility to let himself be protected by them.  
    With this reassuring thought, he ran back towards the stage, where Fox and Wolf were engaged in the fruitless effort of firing their blasters at the crazy hand. The creature was rapidly dodging them by flying side to side, twitching more with every attack fired in its direction. Not even with the efforts of Pit's arrows, that soon joined, was the team able to reliably hurt the monster.  
    "Why is it twitching so much more now?", the angel growled, "We won't be able to continue fighting it if it doesn't stop getting faster!".  
    "We don't know!", Fox yelled back, "Just keep firing!".  
    The hand seemed to get tired of the dodging game as it opened it's palm and charged towards Wolf.  
    "Watch out!", Isabelle screamed a tad too late, as the hand crashed atop the lupine, sliding him through the arena and towards the edge, his screams, along with the hand's, echoed through the air.  
    Wait, why was the hand screaming, again?  
    The hand didn't really push Wolf off the stage, as it looked like it was meaning to do. It actually just slowed down, the friction with the floor forcing it to a stop. It started to twitch uncontrollably atop its victim, its screams getting even louder.  
    That victim had had enough of that, anyway. Wolf used his hands as support and kicked the hand away from his body. They all stared, as the beast started floating once again, shaking and screaming like never before. Pit might have commanded another head-on charge against that thing were it not for the sudden realization that cut through one of the fighters.  
    "Oh, shit!", Wolf cursed, actually seeming quite satisfied as he did so, "That's CTS!"  
    "What?", Fox seemed confused, "You mean Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?".  
    "It's what I said!"  
    "Um", Pit pondered, "What's going on?".  
    "That thing is sick", Wolf explained, "CTS can cause twitchy hands and a lot of pain", he put his right hand forward, lifting two of his fingers, "When it pushed me, it put a lot of pressure in the index and middle fingers, that's why it screamed".  
    "Is it in pain?", Isabelle grimaced.  
    "It doesn't have a nerve structure", Fox protested, "That wouldn't make any sense!"  
    "Have a better idea, pup?", Wolf threw back.  
    They stared at each other for a moment before realizing the hand had regained its composure and was starting another desperate crawl towards them.  
    "So, What do we do, Wolf?", Pit pressured.  
    "You guys hold its wrist in place", the lupine smirked, "I'll bend it".  
    "Okay, we'll do that", Isabelle said, gesturing towards Pit, "Fox, help Wolf do his thing".  
    Forcing both of them to work together when they had no time to think of an alternative was a dirty, dirty move. For someone as cute as she was, Isabelle surely was cunning.  
    An exchange of glances was all Fox and Wolf had time for before the hand reached them.  
    Isabelle dodged to the side as Fox and Wolf ran and Pit jumped atop the monster. He divided his bow into two swords and pierced the blades on the beast's knuckles, pulling them back. That way, the hand couldn't grab on to the floor to stop itself, making it slide towards the edge of the arena, Pit still atop it.  
    "I got you!", Isabelle assured before cutting through the monster's wrist with her fishing rod and planting herself on the ground to prevent it from falling. Pit followed her, abandoning the knuckles in favor of the wrist as he too put his feet on the ground and attempted to stop the creature.  
    They all managed to come to a halt when the only part of the hand that was touching the stage was its wrist, leaving the rest of it to lightly hold itself past the border.  
    "Come on, you two!", Pit screamed, "We can't hold on for much longer!", he completed as the hand started twitching lightly once again.  
    At last, Fox and Wolf ran to where the others were standing, jumping above the hand and letting themselves fall off the stage.  
    "Come on now, pup!", Wolf commanded as he held his rival's hand before they both screamed in unison.  
    "Fire!"  
    Streaks of red and purple flames engulfed both of them before their bodies formed a single projectile that crashed against the part of the hand that hanged past the edge. It bent, far more than any hand was supposed to be able to do.  
    The twitches got more vigorous and the screams louder as the hand kept bending more while both of them held on to their fiery onslaught for as long as they could.  
    A tearing noise ripped through the sky as Fox and Wolf's flames, at last, came undone.  
    They started falling down, approaching the blast zones at dangerous speeds. They looked at each for what could have been the last time in a long while.  
    That was before the red frontier vanished from sight. And they both saw themselves falling from the sky into the faraway landscape. Everybody's screams melted into one terrified noise as Pit and Isabelle noticed the stage that had been created for them had also stopped floating, making both of them accompany it in its fall.  
    With a thump, all of them fell into the ground, along with the stage they had been fighting on and the crazy hand they had defeated.  
    After a few moments of silence, Wolf was the first to get up, discreetly letting go of Fox's hand, which he realized he had still been holding, before howling excitedly into the night.  
    "Told you I was right!", he sneered at the vulpine's still grounded body  
    Fox opened one of his eyes and looked around. Isabelle was sitting on the floor with a dizzy look in her face while Pit was dramatically gesturing towards the sky as he mumbled some confused prayers. The vulpine returned his gaze to his rival and laughed.  
    "Yeah, I gotta say that was some pretty good thinking.", he smiled.  
    "It was really great, Mr. Wolf!", Isabelle completed, her voice still somewhat groggy, "How did you know that would work?"  
    "I had CTS for a long time when I was younger", he explained, "Bending your wrist hurts like hell when you don't take proper care of it".  
    "For a long time?", Fox inquired as he put his palms on the floor to lift himself up, "Piloting academies are required to have programs for students with physical impairments. Weren't you treated?"  
    "I was eventually, not the point", Wolf dodged the question, "Either way, I had never seen a case as bad as the one that hand had".  
    The group turned to face the white figure still lying on the soil. Darkness flowed from an enormous cut that marked the creature on its upper wrist.  
    "I'm guessing that isn't a common symptom?", Pit joked as he too got up on his feet.  
    "Poor thing", Isabelle commented, getting closer to the fallen beast. It had stopped twitching entirely now. Its stillness somehow managed to be even more unnerving than its previous state.  
    "I wouldn't feel so sorry for it", Fox advised, "It was pretty damn strong, it probably has some pretty amazing spirits inside it".  
    Wolf turned around to face the vulpine, "What".  
    "You know, you really should work on your enunciation, that still doesn't sound like a question", Fox responded with a dismissive handshake when Wolf growled back at him, "People, and also these things, can imbue themselves with the power of spirits to become stronger. I haven't tried it myself, but some fighters managed to get some positive results using them".  
    As if on cue, the darkness that had been escaping from the hand got more voluminous. A cloud of purple smoke involved the hand as its physical form started fading.  
    "Oh, check it out!", Pit cheered when the hand exploded in a cloud of dust, allowing four sparks of light to burst out of it.  
    The light arranged itself into bubbles, one of them being distinctively bigger than the others.  
    The three small ones were the first to clear, revealing within them the form of a few new faces. A pair of cup-shaped smiley creatures, yellow and pink, was visible in the first one. A blue, long, fish-like creature was shown in the second. At last, the third one was occupied by a boy that lifted himself using balloons.  
    "Do you guys know any of these?", Pit asked the others.  
    "I think that one is a pokemon", Isabelle said, pointing to the sphere in the middle.  
    Fox and Wolf still waited for the bigger orb to clear up, not being particularly interested in the unknown faces shown in the other three. That orb started lightly trembling as it acquired a red glow. Slowly revealing the vulpine that was standing, chest puffed, within it.  
    The man stood proudly, basked in light. Somehow, the aura of courage he emanated himself seemed to overshadow even the natural glow that being a spirit conceded him.  
    Oh no.  
    That was all Fox could think as the familiar brown and white fur along with his adamant pose made it so that it would be impossible for it to be anyone else.  
    Oh no.  
    That was all that was on Wolf's mind as the white jacket and unmistakeable sunglasses made him sure that the person within that orb could be no other than the one he was thinking of.  
    Oh no.  
    That could be no other than Fox's late father.  
    That was James Mccloud.  
    Isabelle turned to face the man, "Oh, that one looks like you two", she looked at the baffled expressions that composed Fox and Wolf's face, "Do you know him?"  
    Yeah, they knew him. James's career defined the entirety of Fox's identity as the Hero of Lylat. He had served as a rival to Wolf when he was just a young and inexperienced pilot.  
    He had been murdered in cold blood by Pigma Dengar, a former member of Star Fox that had soon after joined Star Wolf, the team that Wolf commanded and the team that had definitely orchestrated the assassination.  
    "Are you two okay?", Isabelle carefully asked both of them.  
    "That's my father", Fox responded without averting his gaze from the light.  
    "Um, Fox", Pit moved his weight from one leg to the other, "Sorry, but weren't you an orphan?"  
    "I am", he responded.  
    "Oh", the angel said, beginning to grasp the gravity of the situation, "Sorry".  
    The spirit's tremble mimicked that of Fox's heart. His father was dead, he knew that for a fact. It seemed, however, that his legacy still lived on beyond the containment of Lylat.  
    He couldn't just leave the man that had defined his entire existence trapped in a ball of light.  
    Fox needed to get him out of there before Darkhon could cause any more damage.  
    The spirit didn't seem to agree with that idea, though.  
    In an explosion of light, the four globules flew to the sky in opposite directions. Fox followed the biggest orb with his gaze as it entered a valley of destroyed buildings to the opposite direction of the temple to which they were heading.  
    "Fuck!", Fox swore, turning to face the others, "Look, it's okay if you guys need to keep going, but I need to find him".  
    The four of them exchanged glances as the vulpine got ready to start running after the light.  
    "Wait!", Isabelle urged, "I understand how important this is for you, I want to help". Pit seemed to hesitate for a moment before following suit.  
    "Me too!", he insisted, "Lady Palutena can wait, we don't know what could happen if you don't get to that spirit soon!"  
    Fox nodded in agreement to both of them. The three then turned to face the other member of the party.  
    Wolf was still staring in awe at the city to which James had flown. He wasn't sure he wanted to be near when Fox and his father reunited. Wolf's history with James was unusual at best and he definitely wasn't looking forward to discussing any of it with Fox.  
    Still, it wouldn't be right to leave the vulpine to go after him without any of the people that he actually knew.  
    "I'm in", he mumbled.  
    Fox couldn't stop himself from raising a brow as he faced his rival.  
    "Then it's settled!", Pit interjected before Fox had any chance to question Wolf's motives, "Let's go, that city is still a long way down".  
    With a last exchange of glances, Fox and Wolf turned forward and began following Pit's lead toward the cluster of buildings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, the beginning of writing this chapter was when I actually sat down and wrote a summary of what I wanted to happen in this story. By which I mean, the first two chapters served as more of an introduction to the characters and the world, and from now on you can expect to see some more coherent themes and stuff like that. Also, chapters tend to be a little bigger from now on.  
> Also, also, smashing headcanons! From the few smash fics I've read, people really love the idea of a Smash Mansion. While I do like that idea, I kinda miss some characterization of what actual fighting matches would look like. While I won't delve too deep into that sort of stuff in this fic, I do like imagining how most legal stages are just floating platforms accompanied by blast zones that surround them.


	4. Home, Sour Home

    Their silent trek towards the city offered a much appreciated opportunity to think.  
    Fox wasn't so sure about accepting Wolf's help on that quest. The lupine and his father had known each other before the Lylat Wars began. Star Fox and Star Wolf shared a bitter history of rivalry even before Fox had assumed leadership of the team.  
    How Wolf felt about James in the present, however, was a complete mystery to the vulpine. He seemed to pursue the Mccloud name wherever it went, joining Andross's side in the war in what could only be an attempt to see Fox fail. It seemed like bitterness was the only constant for which he stood for, it's what defined his relationship with Fox, and it was the only thing he seemed to feel for James before he...  
    Fox couldn't just assume that, right?  
    He had that thought in the back on his head ever since talking to Wolf for the first time in the woods. Given the situation, he just couldn't afford not to think about it now.  
    Even though he had been treating that as a fact, he didn't know whether Wolf had assisted in his father's assassination or not.  
    Pigma Dengar had been the one directly responsible, Fox knew that for sure. The former member of Star Fox had betrayed his team to join Andross, killing James Mccloud in the process. He had joined the young team Star Wolf after that. Since then, Wolf's team had gained infamy for being strongly associated with James's death, word of mouth said its members were the ones responsible for orchestrating the betrayal, that would, of course, include Wolf O'Donnell himself.  
    It wasn't a hard rumor to believe. Wolf really did hate James, it seemed like his every action was made out of spite only. For someone like him, murder didn't seem like a far reach.  
    Still, likely as it was, Fox didn't want to believe that his rival would be responsible for something like that. Like it or not, the vulpine had grown to admire Wolf, he was one of the greatest pilots he had ever had the chance of fighting against. Seeing him in the woods earlier that day, he seemed extremely vulnerable without his ship protecting him. He had also accepted his invitation for Smash, a fighting tourney in which he must have known he would find Fox. Even though his mind screamed in protest, his heart was beckoning for him to give Wolf a second chance.  
    That seemed like something he could do, right? After the Lylat Wars ended, Wolf had forced Pigma out of his team, he had even helped Star Fox fight against the Aparoid Invasion. Even if he wasn't very explicit in his niceness, it did seem like he could have turned over a new leaf.  
    It warranted a talk, at least.  
    Becoming good buddies seemed like a completely outlandish idea, considering the past they shared. Still, not hating each other was better what they had now.  
    The group had arrived in the city's entrance when Fox managed to get his thoughts in order.  
    "Where do you guys think this place is from?", Isabelle wondered as she glanced around the burnt buildings.  
    "I remember Sonic mentioning that escaping from a city was a pretty big deal back when it happened?", Pit scratched his head, "Oh, and Wario said he lived with his friends in a place called Diamond City!"  
    "We need to start looking", Fox really couldn't care less about figuring out where that place had come from, "Let's split, if we see something we can send a signal to call the others".  
    "Deal!", Pit agreed, "I'll take that planetarium thing!", he said, running towards a building with one of its sides completely blown out. It did, however, have a small sphere that could only be a planetarium still mounted atop it.  
    "I'll see what I can find!", Isabelle gave a reassuring smile before breaking from the group and starting her search.  
    Fox turned around to do the same. Yet, it took only a few steps for him to realize that he was being followed. The tension of the approaching footsteps made it difficult for the vulpine to focus on looking around the city until that deep and raspy voice started from behind him.  
    "Say, pup", Fox was hardly surprised when he looked back to identify Wolf closing the distance between them, "Doesn't this place look familiar?".  
    "How so?", the vulpine slowed his steps to allow his rival to catch up.  
    "Over there", he pointed to what could only have been a tower in its prime days. Now, it only stood up to its middle section. Surely enough, a symbol composed of a planet, a few stars and a distinctive 'C' was painted on one of its walls in dark blue.  
    "Oh", a glimpse of realization cut through Fox's expression, "That's the symbol for Corneria's government".  
    He hadn't been able to recognize the city he had known from its glory days after it had been broken, burned and soaked in darkness. Either way it's looked at, the light of hope that shines through Lylat or the oppressive force that controls life through the system, there's no denying that Corneria had been a remarkable planet. Now, however, it was reduced to a mere segment of the Lord of Darkness's twisted playground.  
    Looking back on that half tower, the vulpine recognized it as Corneria's Base of Defence. It's where General Pepper used to stay put and order them around back in the day.  
    Corneria wasn't just a place for Fox. It had also a lot of different feelings and memories attached to it. The planet was his only constant in a life lived in the stars. His idea of what it meant for him was strongly associated with who he saw himself as, that's why he wasn't able to stop himself from taking the opportunity to learn more about what it meant for his companion, "Is this where you were born?".  
    For a moment, he felt as though Wolf was about to punch him in the face for asking such an outrageous question. Instead, the lupine conceded, "Yeah, it is".  
    "Really?", Fox continued, "So you studied in the Cornerian academy?".  
    "That's a different question", Wolf growled, "Corneria was no longer my home by the time I started studying to become a pilot"  
    Fox had already begun to prod the lion, so he might as well stick with it, "Where did you study, then?"  
    "You really wanna get into that?", the lupine responded, if he was angry about the repeated questioning, he didn't show it. All that could be identified on his face was concern when he continued, "I don't wanna shatter your view of me, pup. And telling you my sad childhood stories would be the quickest way to do just that".  
    It's wouldn't be a stretch to say that Fox's view of Wolf had already been somewhat shattered. The lupine standing by his side was presented in a far different manner than the man he had fought against numerous times. His foggy memory told him that Wolf was meant to look menacing, a bulky and awful looking villain.  
    Yet, looking at him now, Fox couldn't help but notice that Wolf looked far better than he remembered. His fur was fairly well put together, it was also shorter and neater than his mind was telling him it was meant to be. Uh, It actually looked pretty fluffy from where he stood. Though, even with those differences, the vulpine had definitely been able to notice that the "bulky" part still held pretty true. Fox was pretty fit himself, but even by professional pilot standards, Wolf was hella muscly.  
    Uh, either way.  
    "You, uh, shouldn't worry about that", Fox kind of forced a grin, "You'll always be an idiot that tries too hard to sound badass to me".  
    "Hah!", Wolf actually laughed at the provocation, "That really all I am?"  
    "A pretty good pilot, too", Fox completed, earning an actual smile from Wolf.  
    "Well, if you insist", Wolf shrugged, "I never got to know my parents, I was too young to remember anything when they left me at a foster home back in Corneria".  
    "I'm sorry to hear that".  
    "You will be", Wolf continued with an ominous look in his eyes, "When I was about eight, the place was raided by a bunch of assholes, some criminals that had a base in the Sargasso Space Zone".  
    "Who the hell raids a foster home?", Fox fumed.  
    "They wanted some fresh kids. Corneria is filled to the goddamn brim with propaganda. Anyone that touches the planet's academy comes out as a wildly nationalist asshat that would never do anything to help anyone except the great folk of their beautiful home planet", Wolf growled, "Point is, they don't make for good criminals".  
    "That seems a little too harsh".  
    "It's true though", Wolf continued, "I know that Corneria has done a lot of good things for the system, beacon of hope and all that. But it's also the richest planet around, it holds control over all others. The citizens that lived in the less habitable planets, working on the industrial and military colonies, they lived horrible lives. Nothing they did was able to convince the Cornerians to give them better working conditions."  
    "Yeah, I'm aware", Fox responded, "I've done a lot of work for the citizens of the exploratory colonies".  
    "You get it?", Wolf raised a brow, "I gotta say, I expected you to try at least a little harder to defend Corneria, after what I said".  
    "No, I know how bad it can get", the vulpine continued, "After getting out of the academy I was completely blindsided by Corneria's propaganda, I was, how should we call it...".  
    "A wildly nationalist asshat", Wolf completed with a grin.  
    "Yeah, that's it", Fox chuckled in response, "After the Lylat Wars ended I started taking more diverse jobs. Turns out you learn a lot about the world when you get out of your comfort zone". Both of them traded smiles before Fox continued, "Sorry, we're getting sidetracked, where were you?".  
    Wolf nodded in agreement, "So, those guys at Sargasso took us and gave us piloting lessons as kids. We were impressionable, they managed to convince us that we wanted to become pilots as much as they did. It was a future, and that was far more than any of us could have asked for".  
    "So I guess that's why your CTS wasn't treated?", Fox tried, "Your school didn't have a proper health program because it wasn't a proper school".  
    "That's right", Wolf agreed, "I developed pain and hand tremors when I was pretty young. My 'professors' blamed it on my lack of training, so they just made me exercise more, which only worsened the condition. When I founded Star Wolf, together with Leon, I actually met with a doctor and had the surgery I needed to get better".  
    "I see".  
    "Yeah, the rest is history", Wolf said, even though the rest wasn't exactly history. Fox wanted to hear Wolf's justification for joining Andross and he wanted to hear the truth behind what had happened to his father. He needed to know whether Wolf had been involved or not.  
    Fox wanted to ask him about all of that really badly, but he also didn't want to wreck the mood. He and Wolf had finally managed to have a good conversation, he didn't need to ruin it with an accusation of murder.  
    Both of them held on to the weight of what they knew had gone unsaid before the lupine broke the silence.  
    "Thanks for listening", Wolf looked at Fox, "I know I might have done some pretty dumb stuff in the past, but at least now you know I had a pretty fucked up childhood to back me up on it", he finished with a simper, to which the vulpine responded with an awkward laugh.  
    Admitting he had done some pretty bad things in the past was at least a good start.  
    Fox was trying to think of something to respond before the ground shook with an explosion coming from somewhere nearby.  
    "What the heck?", Wolf barked, "Over there!", he pointed at the sky. Flying upwards was some sort of wooden statuette, which Fox recognized as being a lloid, a thingy Isabelle used as a trap.  
    "That's our signal", Fox asserted, "Come on".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, guys1!!1!! Classes started, so updates might become a little less frequent. Don't worry though, the story is pretty much finished already so I'm definitely committing to finishing everything!


	5. The New Guardians of Corneria

    Following the source of the explosive, Fox and Wolf ran through a large open area that seemed like it had once been a parking lot. They came to a stop after reaching the back of a group of small buildings, which separated them from the area from which the lloid seemed to have come from.  
    "We should get into a better position", Wolf affirmed with a voice that was surprisingly steady, considering he should still be recovering from a long sprint. He pointed to the roof of the three-story housing complex that was between them and their objective. One of its entrances had been completely blown out.  
    They carefully entered the location and used the emergency stairs to get to the roof.  
    From there they were finally able to identify the source of the turmoil. In the middle of what remained of a public park, an enormous, six-legged mechanical monster was standing tall as it aimed a laser directed by its blue eye at a broken statue. Behind that little statue was a cowering and trembling Isabelle.  
    Wolf grabbed Fox by the shoulder and pulled him down with him to behind the roof's parapet. That way they wouldn't be seen by the beast.  
    "What the hell is that thing?", Wolf barred his teeth, easing his grip of Fox's shoulder a little.  
    "No idea", Fox slowly responded as he peeked over the barrier, "Isabelle is being pinned down, do we have a plan?".  
    "Are you asking me?", Wolf blurted before letting go of the vulpine's shoulder and getting on his knees to peek over the parapet himself. Isabelle was in no position to fight back. If she moved, she would be blasted, and that really wasn't an option.  
    That thing also seemed pretty damn sturdy, their blasters probably wouldn't be able to make a single dent in it. They definitely wouldn't be able to destroy it right then and there, they needed to regroup first.  
    "We need to make a distraction", Fox concluded, "Then we swoop down there and get Isabelle to safety".  
    "So what, we just use ourselves as bait?", Wolf nabbed.  
    "Unless you wanna play the worm yourself, we gotta think of something else".  
    Oh, if only there was something - or someone - else they could count on. Oh, wait, there was. It was also really baffling they had forgotten, considering that someone had been waving his arms frantically from atop the adjacent building for the last minute.  
    "Oh", started Wolf, finally noticing that the angel did, in fact, exist, "Pit's over there", he finished, pointing at the building next to them.  
    Fox stared at the angel as he finally stopped with the arm swinging. Pit took a few seconds to think before he started directing a few gestures to his allies.  
    He started by pointing his index finger at himself, "He will...", Wolf translated what he recognized as military signaling. Pit then took out his bow and started cartoonishly imitating the firing of an arrow, "Uh, shoot the thing", the lupine continued, realizing the signaling Pit was using wasn't exactly by the book. The angel proceeded by pointing at both of them, "While we'll...", Wolf proceed. Pit then perfectly mimicked the act of jumping down from a building, running to behind a ruined statue, grabbing a tiny dog secretary and getting the hell out of there.  
    "Don't need to translate that one for me", Fox taped Wolf's arm, "I guess the folks at Palutena's Army like to use some more inclusive gesturing techniques", he concluded before giving a thumbs up back to Pit, signaling they had understood his message.  
    The angel readied his bow, spawning an arrow of light out of nowhere and aiming at the beast. Fox and Wolf placed their paws over the roof's protection barrier.  
    Pit let go. His blue arrow zipped through the air before hitting the beast's eye. A mechanical growl filled their ears as the beast's laser wavered about frantically as it tried regaining its composure. Fox and Wolf jumped to the ground and started jetting it towards Isabelle.  
    The secretary turned her head to meet the team that came in her rescue. She peeked over the statue to see that the creature that had been pinning her down was now completely out of it, its eye, once a soft blue, had now turned into a deep red.  
    She got up on her feet and started running in the direction of the buildings that they could use as cover, passing the confused faces of Fox and Wolf with a yell, "Come on, guys!".  
    Both of them stopped in their tracks and followed Isabelle's lead back to behind the building they had been stationed in. Apparently, it wouldn't be necessary to carry anyone back to safety. Pit had come down from his own building and was now there waiting for them.  
    "Great job guys!", Pit smiled at Fox and Wolf before turning to the secretary, "Great running, Isabelle!".  
    The secretary smiled sheepishly, "Thanks for coming to help me, everyone. I would have been toast if it weren't for you!".  
    "Just doing our jobs!", said Pit, thankful that he could repay Isabelle for the last time she helped him.  
    "What the hell was that thing, anyway?", Wolf barked, "We didn't kill it, in case you guys think we did".  
    "I think that was a guardian", Pit responded, "They're from Link's world, he told me about them".  
    "That guy speaks?", Fox had always thought Link was mute, he'd never even seen him talking to Princess Zelda herself!  
    "He's just kinda shy, I guess", the angel supposed, bring a hand to stroke his hair, "Either way, he said they can be stunned by hitting their eyes, but destroying them is a lot harder than that, and I think there might be a lot more from where those came from". After a moment of silence, Pit threw a hand in the air in excitement as he seemed to remember something, "Oh, and I know where we are! That planetarium had a map of the system, it seems like this place used to be Corneria!".  
    "Yeah, we figured", Fox asserted, making the angel feel just a little less useful.  
    Guardians, huh? It was kind of weird for Fox to be fighting them in Corneria. He and his team had once been known as the guardians of Corneria, after all.  
    Made him wonder what those new guardians were actually guarding. The main city had been melded into Darkhon's world. Outside of Lylat, without its political leaders, the flags and colors that were still marking the city had lost most of their meaning.  
    Those guardians didn't serve the people of Corneria like Star Fox once did. No, they served Darkhon, a figure of power and power only.  
    Isabelle rubbed her hands together, "Well, you two must be familiar with this place, right?", she supposed, "Spirits usually hide in a place relevant to their past, do you have any idea where your father might be?", she asked, staring at Fox.  
    It was pretty easy to guess where James's spirit would go when left alone in Corneria. What wasn't easy to guess was that Fox wouldn't be the first person in the group to make that assumption.  
    "He must be in the Great Fox", Wolf affirmed, "Where is it parked, Fox?"  
    The vulpine was thrown out of the loop for a second by Wolf's proactivity, "Um, there are two ship bays in the city. The first one must be near that tower we saw earlier", he turned his head towards Wolf, "But that one is only used to store smaller ships. The Great Fox, is parked at the other bay, which is a few kilometers away from here".  
    "That's not very good", Isabelle fretted, "How are we gonna walk a few kilometers without encountering another one of those guardians?".  
    "We need either a way to reliably destroy them", suggested Pit, "Or a way to reliably escape from them".  
    "What about something that can do both?", interjected Wolf, a sneer covering his muzzle, "I say we go to that first ship bay and take a few ships for ourselves".  
    "That's not a bad idea", Fox admitted, locking eyes with Wolf, "But how are we gonna get through the security measures?".  
    "Please", the lupine chuckled back to Fox, "I've stolen far more well-protected stuff than that. Their security team isn't even there, this is gonna be easy!".  
    "Then we have a plan?", Pit asked.  
    Fox gazed at Wolf for a moment longer before turning back to the others, "Yeah, we do".  
    "Great!", Isabelle cheered, "Lead the way, you two!".  
    Fox and Wolf went back the way they had come from, a little more careful this time. Isabelle and Pit followed them close behind.  
    After less than five minutes of walking, Pit broke the group's silence.  
    "So, I'm not really sure how this works", Pit mumbled, "But those ships have more than one seat, right? I've never flown with metal wings before, and I don't think this is the best moment to learn".  
    Fox laughed at the suggestion that Isabelle and Pit were meant to learn how to fly on the spot, "Of course not! Most of those ships have a passenger seat along with the pilot one. I didn't expect you two to be able to fly, it isn't that easy!".  
    "Oh, I actually know how to pilot!", Isabelle corrected with a smile.  
    "You do?", Wolf seemed very confused as to why a secretary would actually have a piloting license.  
    "Yeah! I enlisted in a piloting course while I was studying aeronautical engineering!", she lowered her head in embarrassment, "Of course, I don't have as much experience as you two, I've also never used mounted weapons before".  
    "Wow, that's pretty impressive!", Pit cheered, "I only ever learned how to fly with wings of my own, and I can't even do it by myself!", he completed, lifting his right wing with his hand.  
    "Wait, what", Wolf asked with his usual non-interrogative tone, "If you have an engineering degree, then why do you work as a secretary".  
    Fox thought that was a pretty damn insensitive question to ask. It clearly made Isabelle flustered, she was now holding her left arm with her right hand and would probably be shifting her weight between both her legs if they weren't still walking towards the bay.  
    "I actually have a few different engineering degrees", the secretary admitted.  
    "Wait, what?", now it was Fox's turn to ask the insensitive questions, "Then why don't you work in the engineering field?".  
    "I kind of do!", Isabelle explained, "My job isn't really just as the mayor's secretary. You see, the mayor gets busy very often, I'm the one that takes care of everything in the city most of the time. That means city planning in general, I also work as a head engineer for some public constructions".  
    "What could the mayor possibly be that busy with that you would have to do that much work?", Pit furrowed his brows.  
    "There was this time they went camping".  
    "For how long?!", Fox blurted.  
    "For a pretty long time", the secretary/city planner/head engineer responded with a flustered half smile.  
    "Well if you do pretty much everything for the city, shouldn't you be the mayor?", Wolf suggested.  
    "What, no!", Isabelle now seemed astonishingly disconcerted. She started going on and on about how difficult the mayor's job was and how she might not be ready to handle a responsibility such as that and how much the mayor needed her as an assistant for the town to work properly and...  
    "Okay, we get it", interrupted Fox, "Still, what you do is very impressive, Isabelle".  
    She smiled back at him, "Thank you, Mr. Fox, I do put in effort".  
    Fox smiled back at her before Wolf interrupted.  
    "Everyone", he stopped in his tracks, "We arrived".  
    The group now stood at the entrance of a long and wide hall, defined by its monochrome gray walls. Gigantic doors blocked access to what could only be the ships they had been looking for.  
    The doors that guarded the ships seemed like they were completely intact, establishing a hard contrast with the rest of the facility, which seemed worn down, like everything else in the new Corneria.  
    "So, what's your plan?", Fox stared at Wolf as he imagined how they would get those enormous doors open.  
    "Just let the professional work, pup", the lupine responded with a mock scoff. He brushed his shoulder against Fox's before going to one of the electric panels that accompanied one of the doors.  
    Before he could begin working, however, a robotic cry trembled the building. From a distance, quick taps on the floor signified an incoming threat.  
    "Oh, no", Pit gulped, "Come on, not here!".  
    Unfortunately, Pit's goddess wasn't there to hear his pleas of mercy. The gigantic robot had just turned a corner and was now standing at the end of the hallway the group was reunited in. The guardian bopped its head and tentacles on the walls as it started a mad dash towards its targets.  
    The liquid that flowed between the plates that served as its armor had turned from dark purple to pure black. Outside of its native world, the Calamity had no more way to control it. Instead, a much stronger force served as its master: Darkhon's darkness.  
    "Oh! Oh!", Pit clumsily readied his bow, "I've got it!", he aimed at the creature's eye, which was now readying a laser attack.  
    With a streak of light, the arrow hit the beast, deactivating its eye cannon. Yet, even though its head began vaguely drifting around, unable to focus on anything specific, that didn't mean it had stopped rushing towards them. The guardian crawled quickly, hitting its body at the narrow walls as it prepared to bash itself against the fighters.  
    "Oh! Oh!", Pit looked back to at the entrance they had come from. A red veil formed from nowhere, blocking their escape: another blast zone, "Hold on, everyone!", the angel yelled, prompting the others to stand behind him. A pair of shields formed in front of the angel. The guardian neared them at dangerous speeds as the team prepared for impact.  
    The mechanical monster hit them with a deafening blow. The shield formed by Pit's guardian orbitars broke in a million shards of light as their party was thrown back towards the blast zone.  
    Thankfully, none of them passed through it, Wolf came the closest, coming to a halt a mere meter away from it.  
    They looked up, the guardian had been completely stopped by the orbitars, it now stood there with its head rotating around its field of view as it tried to regain its senses.  
    "I don't think that collision was very respectful of the law of conservation of momentum!", said an exasperated Isabelle, noticing they had flown back just a few meters after that massive thing had hit them at full speed.  
    "I mean, I don't think that shiny shield pays much mind to the laws of physics either, so they should end up even", Fox responded as he got up, "Pit, you know those things, what do we do?".  
    "If that blast zone won't go away until that thing is broken...", the angel got up on his feet, "We can tear its tentacles off!".  
    A mechanical roar filled the air as the guardian growled in disapproval.  
    Wolf ran towards it, dodging one swipe of a limb before attacking at the base of one of the tentacles. Fox followed him, helping him slash against that same tentacle.  
    "I'll keep an eye on the eye!", Pit commanded, "You three work on the tentacles!", he finished as he readied his bow.  
    Between a waltz of light arrows and a tornado of robotic whips, the group started tearing down the creature's limbs. Their teamwork had become much better after that first battle against the crazy hand. They went from mindlessly attacking the foe separately to actually making a plan and sticking to it.  
    Of course, things could never run perfectly smooth. Isabelle and Wolf were hit by the creature's attacks a few times, thankfully, Pit was positioned close to where the blast zone stood, ready to catch them if they were flying too close to the red. Fox was grabbed by one of the guardian's limbs once, but Wolf had been there to cut that thing off.  
    All of that is to say, things were going relatively well until only one tentacle remained. That's when the thing attacked Pit.  
    With a quick lash that nobody had been expecting, the creature reached into the back of their formation to take the bow away from the angel's grasp.  
    It wouldn't have been such a hard situation to recover from had the weapon not flown past the blast zone, outside of the bay, at the exact moment the creature's eyes had recovered from the last shot.  
    The guardian aimed its laser at Fox.  
    "Ah!", Pit yelled, "It took my bow!".  
    Wolf's first instinct was to fire his blaster against the creature's eye. It didn't really work, it didn't even seem to mind his shots. Fox also tried his own blaster, but his shot somehow managed to deal even less damage than Wolf's.  
    The guardian's eye started to shine brighter as it prepared to fire against Fox. An attack that could cause an explosion as big as the one he had heard before surely wouldn't be survivable, especially with the blast zone being so close.  
    "What do we do? What do we do?", Pit squeaked.  
    "Over here, you bastard!", Wolf challenged as he went back to attacking the one tentacle the creature still had as a form of distraction. It didn't really seem to mind, though, its eye got brighter at every moment with its unwavering attention directed at Fox.  
    The vulpine activated his deflector as an emergency measure. He doubted it could block a shot that strong without sending him flying backward. Still, it was all he could think of.  
    Pit kept jumping and panicking in his past position, even if the shot didn't make a hole in the facility, he wouldn't be able to stop Fox from flying into the blast zone.  
    Isabelle threw the hook of her fishing rod against the creatures eye, "Hyah!", she yelled as she pulled back, all she managed to pull off was a tiny piece of glass.  
    As Wolf kept clawing, Pit kept screaming and Isabelle kept trying to think of a plan, Fox could only stare at the creature.  
    Going under Darkhon's control in there would be somewhat symbolic. The leader of Star Fox being replaced by one of Corneria's new guardians.  
    Thinking well about it, it wasn't exactly like those new guardians didn't serve Corneria. After the Lylat Wars ended, Corneria had somewhat lost its status as an independent entity in Fox's eyes.  
    Like he had told Wolf, Corneria's propaganda had blinded him completely when he got out of the academy. However, even after that, he couldn't help but look up to Corneria. The difference, that time around, was that it wasn't a system anymore, it was no longer a government with its own agenda. No, it had become a symbol.  
    A symbol of hope.  
    In a weird way, the new guardians of Corneria reminded Fox a lot of what he might have become if he hadn't stopped taking everything that Corneria's government spouted out as gospel.  
    Nothing but a monster that would be willing to kill anyone that dared to stand in the way of its master's objectives.  
    After what felt like forever, the blue light in the creature's eye finally went out in an explosion of light.    
    Fox closed his eyes and prepared for the impact.  
    For some reason, however, that impact never did come.  
    "What", said Wolf, opening up one of the eyes he had instinctively closed. The tentacle he had been clawing against just kind of gave up and fell on the ground.  
    Another explosion came from the beasts eye, but instead of the bright and concentrated beam they had been expecting, the light that emitted from the creature's eye went in all directions and dissipated before it could really go anywhere.  
    Fox opened the eyes he didn't realize he had closed. Another explosion went off, equally as sad as the last two. The vulpine looked at the secretary that was standing by his side, fishing rod still in hand, "Isabelle, what did you catch?".  
    She looked at her hands and identified the piece of glass that she had caught from the beast's eye, "Oh, it's a lens!", she bubbled, "It must have served to concentrate the guardian's energy into a beam".  
    "Of course!", Pit got up from his knees and threw a triumphant finger in the air, "That was the plan all along!". Everyone could tell it wasn't, but they let him roll with it. "Now, team, let us push this beast into the blast zone, to end this fight once and for all!".  
    Between a sequence of another few sad explosions, the group pushed the guardian into the blast zone. With a mighty, though harmless, blast, the creature disintegrated, taking the blast zone with it.  
    The doors that guarded the ships suddenly opened, revealing two intact dog fighters in the first two compartments.  
    "Now, that's convenient", Fox said, cutting straight to the point, "Let's divide our teams, Isabelle you go with...".  
    "Oh, my!", Isabelle interrupted him, "Are those actual cornerian fighters?!", she gushed.  
    The ships really were cornerian fighters, far more classy than the types of ships they had expected to find in a non-military bay. They didn't really have any business being there, actually, Fox could only blame their placement as more of Darkhon's weirdness.  
    "Um, Mr.Fox...", Isabelle moved her weight from one leg to another, "Is it okay if I pilot one of them? I've read some stuff about Corneria's army and those ships looked really amazing".  
    The look Isabelle gave Fox was the thing that finally made him understand what people meant by 'puppy eyes', "I mean, I don't think those guardians are gonna target us while we're in the air, and since you have got a license for flying, I don't see why not".  
    "Yay!", the secretary bubbled, "Pit, you're with me!", she finished as she ran up to turn her new ship on. Now that she had decided the flying teams on her own, Wolf couldn't figure out if she was actually interested in the ship or if this was just another one of her tricks to force him and Fox to work on their 'difference based friendship'. Either way, he had to make one thing clear to that vulpine.  
    "I'm piloting", It was Fox who affirmed with an elbow tap in Wolf's arm, faster than the lupine could open his mouth to say the same.  
    "What!", he protested.  
    "I said it first!", Fox smirked, "Come on!".  
    Despite Wolf's desire to be the one at the pilot's seat, he followed his teammate into the ship. Pit followed Isabelle into hers, after grabbing the bow that the guardian had chucked out of the bay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to edit a lot of this one to make it work! In the first draft, the symbolism about the guardians of Corneria was pretty hard to spot, so among a few other things, I had to make it a little more explicit. Also, the last time I put a new chapter out, for some reason it didn't really register as an update. So, even though I put a chapter a month ago, ao3 says its been 2. So, if anyone knows what might have caused this, please send me a message! I don't want to get buried under the new updates in the tags!
> 
> Other than that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you have any thoughts about it, please do leave a comment, I'm always really happy to read them!


	6. Back in the skies

    With a few button presses, the ceiling in both their compartments opened and soon, both the ships were in the air, heading to the second bay that the onboard map showed.  
    That's where they would find James Mccloud, who must have gone into hiding close to the Great Fox, after being freed in Darkhon's realm.  
    Fox turned on the autopilot on their ship before turning on his communicator, "We can only fly in cruise mode while we're this close to the ground, so this might take a while".  
    "Got that!", Isabelle's bubbly voice spoke back from the ship's computer, "Let's see what this baby can do!". Fox could only hear a few stark objections from Pit before the secretary turned her communicator off.  
    Great, now everything that stood between the vulpine and his father's spirit was about 30 minutes of being alone in a ship with Wolf.  
    They stayed in cold silence for a few minutes before any of them bothered to come up with anything to talk about. Thankfully, they weren't forced to stare at each other the entire time during that ordeal, Fox's seat was in front of Wolf's. Were they side by side, this interaction would have been much more awkward.  
    "You know", Wolf was the first to speak, "That reminds me of our communication channel conversations from back in the day"  
    Fox puffed some air out of his nose, turning his head back to meet Wolf's gaze "God, everything just sounds so much more dramatic when we're talking through these".  
    Wolf chuckled back before starting to talk, imitating a voice broken by a faulty radio signal, "*chkt* Can't let you do that Star Fox!".  
    "That must be the most annoying catchphrase that anyone has ever made up", Fox added, "And you didn't even manage to stop me from doing anything once!".  
    "Damn, save the truth bombs for when we're drunk"  
    Fox snorted, "Seriously though, you got any idea how hard it is to say 'Let's rock and roll, boys!' while someone is actually staring at your face?".  
    "You just did, pup", Wolf shot back with a wink that was far more suave than a person with just one eye probably should have managed.  
    Oh, yeah, now they were staring at each other. Now that they were in a cockpit once again, the violet shine of Wolf's one eye met Fox with the same intensity they had shared in past dogfights. The difference now is that that intensity now meant something completely different. What once was pure killing intent was now the weird tension that punctuated the changes that their relationship had been going through ever since they met again after the Aparoid Invasion.  
    Wolf's new attire, A sleek purple coat accompanied by a pink scarf and a black undershirt, in favor of the boring blue and gray armor he had worn in the past, helped set an entirely different tone to that conversation. It was more casual, more stylish. He didn't look like a mercenary, he just looked like the type of guy Fox would approach in a bar.  
    The vulpine coughed, he'd become a little stunned by Wolf's subtle wink, "Yeah, I guess so".  
    Fox turned back to face ahead of them. He had survived a total of seven minutes of being stuck in a tiny ship with Wolf O'Donnell.  
    He supposed Wolf really was the type of guy he'd approach in a bar. It was hard to realize that during dogfights, when they were both trying to kill each other. Now that they could actually talk face to face, on the other hand, Wolf was actually a pretty cool guy to be around.  
    Still, for some reason, Fox still felt like he was holding back on this whole 'buddies' thing for some reason.  
    "So, how has Falco been?", the lupine tried to reestablish a conversation.  
    "What do you mean?", Fox asked, only slightly turning his head to the side, "We haven't found him yet if that's what you're asking".  
    "No, I mean", That confident persona he was just displaying faltered a little when faced with the slight hesitation that formed in the lupine's throat, "I haven't seen either of you since the Aparoid Invasion. Are you two still in good terms?".  
    "Oh", Fox understood, a little weirded out by the sudden mention of the team, "Yeah, Star Fox is still kicking".  
    "Huh", the lupine still didn't sound satisfied with that explanation. He barely let a moment pass before he insisted on another question, "Were you two, uh, expecting me to appear here?", he stumbled.  
    "What?", Fox was thrown out of his rhythm by Wolf's unprecedented line of questioning.  
    "I mean", Wolf was now looking full-on nervous, "Here as in smash".  
    Now, that got the vulpine's attention. Wolf was finally getting close to the questions Fox actually wanted answered. After all, his rival's whereabouts between the Aparoid Invasion and Smash were still a complete mystery to everyone on the lawful side of Lylat. He really wanted to understand where Wolf had been. He wanted for a reason to believe that the lupine had been following some less evil work habits far more than he was willing to admit.  
    Fox put his knees in his seat and turned his body towards Wolf in what could only be a really big safety violation.  
    "Of course we didn't expect you to just show up!", he barked.  
    "Yeah, yeah, I know", Wolf muttered in response. He looked as though he wanted to say something else. Instead, he just lowered his gaze to his lap.  
    Fox had never seen his rival look that pathetic, "So, what's your point?", he pushed, "Are you gonna explain? 'Cause if you don't plan on it, you probably shouldn't have brought it up in the first place".  
    A fit of unexpected anger filled the vulpine as he became the one asking the questions. He knew for a fact Wolf didn't owe him an explanation to his whereabouts. Still, he felt like he was entitled to one.  
    Wolf stared back at Fox's furrowed brow before starting, "Okay, fuck, calm down, Fox", it was one of the rare times when Wolf actually called Fox by his first name, "Just gimme a second".  
    Wolf cupped his own face with his hands for a moment before he continued, "You remember that thing I told you, back then?", he lifted his head, "Don't hesitate, when the time comes, just act", those words slid out of his mouth so naturally, it was although the lupine had been repeating them since that day.  
    "Yeah", Fox replied, relieving a little of the tension on his arms and legs while still maintaining those knees of his on the butt part of the seat, "That was actually pretty helpful when I was facing the Aparoid Queen".  
    "Yeah, yeah, the thing is, I actually learned a little from it too", Wolf continued, "Back then, it was never my plan to sacrifice Star Wolf just to give you a shot to fight against the queen. When things were happening I just, you know, acted".  
    Fox had always thought that gesture to have been somewhat weird. Wolf had always boasted about being a better pilot. Yet, when the situation came, he forfeited his entire team just to give Fox the chance to fight against the queen himself.  
    "Um, point is", Wolf proceeded, "I wanted to end the invasion more than I wanted to protect my pride, and uh...", he wavered for a moment before finishing, "I also wanted to protect you guys".  
    "Oh", that was all Fox had after that. Now he had gotten really confused. Even if he knew that Wolf didn't want him dead during the Aparoid Invasion, there had always been a sort of detachment between both of them, even in their cooperation.  
    During that entire time, he would constantly overanalyze all of their interactions. He didn't trust Wolf to have good intentions for one second, so he would always be on his toes, prepared for whatever scheme the lupine might have been hiding by helping them.  
    Now, as he stood on his knees before him, Fox couldn't detect a glimpse of deceit in his expression. Wolf told him that not only did he want to end the invasion above all else, he also wanted to protect Star Fox along with the rest of Lylat.  
    "Why?", he finally asked in a feeble attempt to understand Wolf's reasoning behind his sacrifice.  
    "Are you asking me why I don't want you dead?", Wolf crooked his mouth a little.  
    "I mean, yeah!", sputtered Fox, "What reason could you possibly even have for caring about me!?", for some reason, the anger within Fox continued to grow the more comforting Wolf tried to sound. The tension he'd managed to let out came back to his posture full force.  
    "Do you actually expect me not to?!", the lupine barked, becoming even more nervous about their conversation. Finally, he let out a breath he had been holding and calmed his voice down, "Okay, do you have any idea what happened to me between the Lylat Wars and the Aparoid Invasion?".  
    "Enlighten me", Fox demanded with a sarcastic tone.  
    "Okay, okay. Back when I accepted Andross's job offer, I just did so out of spite. Spite against Corneria, spite against Star Fox and - well, and spite against you, Fox", Wolf explained, "I was just so goddamn bitter, I was completely blind to all the bad shit Andross was trying to achieve. Fuck, I was fighting what I saw as a dictatorship just so that I could put another dictator in power!"  
    "You mean Corneria?"  
    "Yeah! Corneria constantly censored their colonies' pleas for financial support. It was all I learned about back as a kid in Sargasso. Most people there came from those colonies. All of us pilots in training were tailored to hate Corneria since childhood", Wolf sighed, "Then, that's where you came in".  
    Fox raised a brow, still looking at Wolf as if he was ready to maul him.  
    "You fought us, and you weren't just fighting for Corneria, you were also fighting for all the planets we had been wreaking destruction in", Wolf brought a hand to his neck, "When the Lylat Wars ended,  the stuff you did made me realize I was on the opposite side of the spectrum of those wildly nationalist asshats I hated so much, and that was just as dangerous. Instead of doing everything in blind love of a planet, my only drive was my blind hatred of one".  
    "Huh", Fox let his anger melt just a tiny amount, "So, what did you do after the Lylat Wars?"  
    "I went back to Sargasso. I tried to do something to help people in a far less destructive way. I spent a few years climbing Sargasso's political stairs and became its new leader".  
    "Good old Lord O'Donnell"  
    "I still think that nickname is a tad excessive", Wolf scowled, "Still, I got a lot of results. I stopped people from capturing and training children, and I worked on giving the criminals a better life. We were still outlaws and we still fought against Corneria occasionally, but that wasn't our only drive anymore. We were actively fighting to try and give a better life to people that didn't have a voice of their own. Turns out, with a little helping hand, anyone can be heard by Corneria's higher-ups".  
    "Oh", Fox was impressed at Wolf's ambitions after the Lylat Wars had ended, "That's actually pretty cool".  
    "And, if I'm honest, it wouldn't have happened without you", the lupine continued, "Then, when you defeated the Aparoid Queen, we managed to escape after serving as bait. I went back to Sargasso and took a little break from mercenary work to fix the damage you guys had done to the place".  
    "Oh, yeah", Fox remembered raiding the place with his team in search for Pigma before they knew much about the aparoids, "Sorry about that".  
    "It's in the past", Wolf responded, "I stayed on the low after that and about a year later I received a weird letter about a fighting tournament".  
    "And how did that one turn out?", Fox quipped, earning a little puff out of Wolf's nose.  
    Knowing what had been happening to Wolf in those years made Fox feel a lot calmer. The weird anger that had overcome him was now just a tiny droplet laying meaningless in his chest.  
    "Now, after that humiliating display of sentimentalism and me going completely out of character to say that I've actually found you really fucking inspiring", Wolf looked tentatively at Fox's eyes, "Are we... good?".  
    Were they good? Fox knew for a fact they would never stop competing against each other. Still, they could be good, even under such conditions. Nothing like some friendly rivalry. After all, it was what built his friendship with Falco, maybe it could work with Wolf too.  
    "Yeah, we're good", Fox smiled and Wolf smiled back. They both sat at a comfortable silence, the vulpine still standing on his knees atop his chair.  
    "But, you gotta say", Fox pointed his finger at Wolf's nose, "admitting you have a crush on me really doesn't help you with the whole rivalry thing", he provoked.  
    Wolf chuckled back, "Fuck off, pup", he then grabbed Fox's hand as if to push it away from his face. Instead, the lupine just held on to it for a while.  
    Weirdly enough, Fox realized that he didn't really mind it. Wolf's fur was rougher than his own, but it was still really comfortable to touch. The texture was oddly satisfying  
    It was a really odd situation, thinking well about it. How comfortable they were with each others touch, after all those years of communicating exclusively through voice calls during dogfights.  
    Liking it or not, Fox had grown to care a lot about Wolf after all their years of rivalry. He had always been there, the only constant in an always shifting political environment. A pretty damn annoying constant, for that matter. Yet, somehow, the lupine had always felt like home.  
    Wolf O'Donnell. His enemy. His rival. His friend.  
    The man that killed his father.  
    Suddenly, all that anger that Fox had managed to bottle up rushed back to him as he let go of Wolf's hand and jumped back to his normal sitting position.  
    His body had been trying to warn him about Wolf in the form of that unexplainable anger for a while now. He had just been refusing to listen. There is no way they could just become buddies after all that had happened. Pigma, the man that betrayed James Mccloud had been accepted in Star Wolf with open arms after what happened, and so soon, too.  
    Wolf murdered his father.  
    Wolf murdered his father. He was not Fox's friend.  
    While Fox was panicking in his seat, Wolf just sat on his own, wondering what he had done wrong. He was about to ask the vulpine if he was okay before they received a call from their communicator.  
    Fox briskly clicked the answer button before Isabelle's voice responded, "I think we're arriving, Mr. Fox", the vulpine could almost feel her polite smile from the other end of the line, "Where should we land?".  
    Fox looked around his onboard map to analyze the conditions of the terrain. He saw an open plaza just beside the bay they were heading for. He marked it on the map and sent the coordinates to the secretary, "Got it!", she answered him.  
    Just a few moments after that, the entire group had landed at the plaza. Fox was the first to get out of his ship, running to the center to meet the other two.  
    "Oh, dear gods!", Pit cried, stumbling out of the ship, "Isabelle is an absolute madwoman in the skies! I think I'm gonna puke!".  
    "Aw, come on, Pit!", Isabelle defended herself, "I was just testing a few defensive maneuvers!".  
    "A few?!", the angel complained, "We spent the entire flight spinning and shooting about!".  
    "Well, I needed to make sure I understood how everything works, in case we were attacked!"  
    "Um, guys", Fox interrupted, his voice still somewhat stiff from the conversation he just had with Wolf, "There's our bay", He pointed to the other side of the plaza.  
    "Oh, that's right", Pit remembered what they had come for, "What's our plan, Fox?".  
    "I'm very thankful for the help you guys gave me, but I need to do this part on my own", he explained, "Those guardians might still be around, can you guys stay here and protect the bay while I go find the Great Fox?".  
    "For sure!", Isabelle said, "Good luck, we'll be here waiting".  
    "Thanks", Fox gave the secretary and the angel an acknowledging glance before turning to the bay and starting to walk that way, "I'll see you soon".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im really fuckgn tired send help  
> Also, hey! Thanks for reading, The next chapter is going to be the last one. The last one is way longer than the ones that came before it, so wish me luck!
> 
> Eh, I'm gonna survive  
> Thanks for reading, leave a comment!


	7. Have a good one, Mccloud

    Fox kept a steady pace as he entered the bay's big front door. The complex was a labyrinth of halls in, now faded, blue hues and shades of gray. The place would be completely unnavigable by anyone without the help of a map. Luckily, Fox was greatly acquainted with that place.  
    The Great Fox should be waiting for him somewhere within it. With it, he should hopefully be able to find his father's spirit.  
    James had meant far too much for Fox's journey as a pilot for him just to abandon him in Darkhon's realm. Dead or alive, he didn't deserve to spend any other moment in that world.  
    He didn't want to think about the circumstances of his father's death right now, though. Nor did he want to think about the disaster of a conversation he had just had with Wolf back on their ship. Those desires were not helped, however, when Fox heard the less than subtle footsteps following his trail. He didn't need to look back to be sure that it was Wolf who had decided to go with him.  
    That decision didn't surprise the vulpine at all. Fox didn't doubt for a second that the lupine would want to see James again, given the chance. Despite that certainty, he couldn't exactly pinpoint Wolf's motivations.  
    He knew that his father and Wolf had been rivals before the Lylat Wars. Maybe the lupine still respected James as his equal even after death, he might have wanted to get him out of that place as much as Fox had done. Maybe he had really been the one responsible for planning James's murder, and maybe he actually regretted doing it, he might have wanted to make ends meet by freeing him from Darkhon's grasp.  
    Or maybe he just wanted a chance to kill James once again.  
    "Just let me do this on my own, okay?", Fox said with a tone as assertive as he could manage, finally acknowledging the person behind him, "You can stay there in case something goes south. But if things go as planned, I'd like to have this moment for myself".  
    He looked back to gauge Wolf's response. An understanding nod was all that Wolf gave him for his effort. His expression was devoid of much emotion. It seemed like he wasn't exactly sure of what he was meant to be feeling either.  
    Fox turned his gaze forward once again, as both he and Wolf entered further into the docking complex. More metallic doors with accompanying panels permeated the halls of the facility. They went ahead, ignoring all but one of them.  
    As the team arrived at the end of a long hall, they stopped at a door that was bigger than the other ones. Fox closed in on the panel and entered the all too familiar password.  
    The doors opened to reveal an outdoor area protected by a light blue force field that surrounded its center in a half sphere. In the middle, they could see the Great Fox, the trademark mobile headquarters of the Star Fox team. Atop the ship, a figure stood heroically looking at the distance.  
    It was Fox Mccloud himself.  
    That version of him had a different aura than the real Fox. He didn't have the same youthful glow the new leader of Star Fox was characterized by. For some reason, by his posture alone, it was easy to tell that he was far more experienced and wise.  
    With a quick glimpse back at Wolf, Fox began climbing the ship, being followed close behind. They arrived at the top, "Stand back, now", Fox instructed, to which Wolf complied, stepping back to wait for his chance to act in the back of the ship. The vulpine took a few careful steps before arriving next to his copy.  
    The Fox puppet turned back to look at his real counterpart, revealing a pair of burning red eyes. As if on cue, a red veil involved the ship, forming a new blast zone. Suddenly, the Great Fox's engines were turned on and the ship began to lift itself from the ground.  
    The puppet, James Mccloud, lowered his center of mass and put his arms forward in a fighting stance, "Right to the point, huh?", Fox bickered, also readying his posture.  
    The Great Fox began accelerating and soon it was flying through the sky at full speed. Thankfully, the fighters atop it didn't feel that much acceleration on them. The field the ship's g-diffusers created seemed to extend to its exterior, too.  
    James was the first to attack, aiming a quick blow at Fox's stomach. The vulpine managed to block it with his arm before counterattacking. More kicks and more punches flew and, although his body was completely focused on the battle at hand, Fox's mind couldn't help but wander somewhere else.  
    It might have been his imagination, but when he saw the red eyes on that puppet, the vulpine couldn't shake the feeling that his father was staring back at him. He felt like the anger James was directing towards him at that moment had been justified, for some reason. Even if he consciously understood that Darkhon's possession didn't allow for subjectivity in its victim's thoughts.  
    What expectations did his father have for him while in life? Fox was about to end his training in the academy when he died. He and his father hadn't had a lot of time to discuss what the future would hold for the young vulpine.  
    Would he be proud of what he had become? After James's death, Star Fox's legacy was thrown in its entirety at an unprepared child. Fox had recruited people he trusted, back then. Even if they might have achieved good results, what did those results cost to their morals? Peppy would never stop talking about how immature all of the team had become after the first Star Fox disbanded.  
    It was impossible for Fox to stop the feeling that he could never reach the greatness his father was once known for.  
    Fox was taken back to the brawl when a well-aimed kick zipped past his defenses and hit his neck, sending him tumbling to the metal platings of the Great Fox. He had to stay focused, no matter what. He lifted himself from the floor and repositioned himself to resume the fight.  
    "You okay, Fox?", Wolf asked from the back of the ship  
    "Yeah, I'm fine!", he yelled back.  
    Focus.  
    James ran up to Fox and attacked with another series of kicks and punches. The vulpine blocked them and tried to find some space in which to counter-attack.  
    Their physical abilities were perfectly matched for that fight, considering they were both using the same body. The difference lied in the years of training James had under his belt. Not only was James quick thinker and a highly technical fighter, but his mind was also trained to withstand any hurdles that might prove a distraction.  
    Fox, on the other hand, had never had an easy time controlling his feelings in moments of danger. That weakness had been manifesting itself especially forcefully in that situation. He had died and come back to life after his universe had been destroyed. Now, he was one of the few responsible for saving everyone he held dear.  
    Of course, that was why he had come to revisit the Great Fox. His father had been dead for years now, but for some reason, his spirit still lingered, no matter how much Fox tried to run away from it.  
    His father had been an inspiration, but his legacy was also one of Fox's greatest weaknesses. Comparisons were inevitable between The James Mccloud and the kid that took control over his team after he died. Public opinion of Star Fox fell significantly after the first years of James's death. All that Fox had ever done was in an attempt to measure up to his father's fame.  
    Now, after the Aparoid Invasion and after the world had torn itself down, he struggled to figure out what he was supposed to be. Maybe that is why he came in search of James once again.  
    He had based all of his character on the likes of James and the heritage he left. Now, without Lylat and without the voice of the people in his side, nothing had remained of Fox Mccloud. He could no longer be defined by James Mccloud because James Mccloud had never actually existed in that world.  
    The only aspect of his life in Lylat that remained was himself, and he wasn't anything worth remembering anymore.  
    A punch hit Fox's ribs before he could react, launching him to the tail of the ship. He held on to the ledge before seeing Wolf's face poking out from the highest part of the ship.  
    "You sure you can handle this, pup?", the lupine asked, a glint of worry blending into his expression.  
    "I'm fine!", Fox growled back at him.  
    Fox climbed up to stand atop the ship's tail as James Mccloud neared him once again. Now they were just a few meters from the edge of the Great Fox. With a quick punch that Fox threw against James's jaw, both of them started trading blows once more.  
    Standing at the Great Fox now he realized he wasn't really the only piece of Lylat that still remained in that new world.  
    The spirits of the citizens of Lylat that were sprinkled through that new realm still told the history of Fox's home universe. He could be someone new in that universe, someone greater, a savior of souls that restored his own history through his quest on a desolate new realm.  
    He wouldn't even have to rebuild his legacy alone, he remembered, Falco was still by his side. Um, will still be by his side, once they saved him from Darkhon's control.  
    Surely his old friend would still recognize him for his merit in the past. They had fought through so much together, and, even if he won't admit it, Falco had also been moved by James's legacy. He would understand their need to uphold it. Their need to do something in that new world they had been thrown into.  
    Of course, there was also Wolf.  
    But Wolf hadn't been moved by James's legacy at all. Wolf had become a person of his own many years ago, he didn't need anyone's affirmation to be who he was. He just was who he was, really.  
    But who really was Wolf? Fox didn't really have an easy answer to that question. On one hand, he was his rival, a man he had competed against ever since he became a pilot. He wanted to be better than Wolf, and he also respected the lupine for the amount of work he had put into becoming a pilot as good as he was.  
    But Wolf was also his enemy, Fox shouldn't let that respect go too far. The lupine had worked with Andross to create a dictatorial empire that extended through the entirety of the Lylat System. He was, most importantly of all, a threat and should not be taken lightly.  
    But, for some reason, he was also Fox's friend? After meeting each other again back in the woods, it seemed like their entire dynamic had been twisted. They fought together once more with little to no questioning, and not only were they working together, they were also willingly engaging in conversation, for some reason?  
    Even if he felt guilty about it, Fox couldn't deny that he had felt completely fascinated by Wolf for a long time. Now they actually had the chance to know each other on a personal level and, as weird as that sounded, the vulpine was actually thrilled to have that opportunity.  
    Fox saw it now. Wolf was unbearably nice to be around. Not only did he share Fox's humor and interests, but he also seemed to understand a lot about what the vulpine had struggled with in the past. Fox knew he wanted to be closer to Wolf, that was the most annoying part.  
    That would be if that elephant wasn't still standing awkwardly between them. Elephant, of course, refers to James Mccloud and his turvy history with the lupine. Standing awkwardly between them, on the other hand, took a more literal form as James had literally just grabbed Fox by his throat.  
    Ouch, yeah, that was pretty awkward.  
    The vulpine realized a tad too late that he had been dozing off again. The puppet had surprised him with a strong grip against his neck, Fox was now being held at the edge of the Great Fox, the blast zone lurking dangerously close to his back.  
    It might have just been the end of him if it weren't for Wolf's help.  
    "Fox!", the lupine yelled as he crashed his body against the puppet, forcing it to release its clutch on the vulpine's throat, "What the heck are you doing?".  
    Yeah, what the heck was he doing? Fox had come there to save his father from Darkhon's control. Now that he was forced to act, however, it seemed like he could think about everything except the fight he had come there to fight.  
    Now he was pitifully laying on the floor and Wolf was facing James himself, with focus and determination that Fox definitely wouldn't be able to provide. The vulpine could do nothing but stare at that moment.  
    Wolf fought against Fox's body, but the person controlling it definitely wasn't Fox. That person was far more focused and strong-minded, that person definitely wouldn't let their problems distract them from a fight as important as that one.  
    The pain the vulpine still felt from the fight was punctuated by the humiliation he had just faced. His lifelong rival was now fighting toe to toe with the enemy that Fox was barely even able to strike.  
    Wolf fought wildly, unlike anything Fox had ever seen the lupine do before. He punched and clawed against James mercilessly, forcing him to retreat into his shield a number of times.  
    The vulpine could do nothing as Wolf beat the puppet to death.  
    As Wolf beat James Mccloud to death.  
    As Wolf beat Fox's body to death.  
    Between another flurry of punches, James's shield had overstayed its welcome. Wolf had managed to shatter it, the shock of the guard break was too much for the puppet, he was left stunned, standing just by the edge of the Great Fox. Wolf readied his last blow, the one that would launch the puppet against the blast zone and end the fight for good.  
    "No", it was barely a whisper coming from Fox's muzzle, "Stop".  
    It was too late. With a quick and powerful attack from Wolf's palm, the puppet flew through the blast zone, fracturing the red veil in an explosion of light.  
    There were a few moments of deafening silence before Wolf finally relaxed his stance and turned to face Fox. The vulpine quickly and clumsily got on his feet. He took a few steps back, responding to Wolf's advances in his direction with a warning glance. The lupine carefully slowed his steps.  
    Fox had to witness Wolf killing his father, this once. It was hard to match the concoction of confusion and anger he felt rushing back to him as he stared back at his rival. He needed some sort of closure if he wanted that pain to stop. This might just be the last opportunity he would get to directly ask about this to Wolf.  
    He had meant to ask about the truth, he needed to know if Wolf was actually directly involved in his father's assassination or not. Instead, what came out of his mouth was far more accusatory, and, with the swap of a word, had taken an entirely different meaning to both of them.  
    "You killed me!", Fox yelled, halting Wolf's stride in his direction and leaving him with a confused expression.  
    "What", Wolf affirmed, "Pup, I killed the puppet. James is fine, his spirit is proba-", he was interrupted by another word from Fox.  
    "No", the vulpine muttered, tears were now starting to stream down his face, "I, I didn't mean to...".  
    "Fox?", Wolf was actually getting worried now, he went forward to meet Fox and put an arm on his shoulder. The vulpine had stopped retreating, the anger he felt had been completely substituted by hopelessness, "You wanna, uh, talk about this?", the way the lupine talked made it very clear that comforting other people was far from being his forte.  
    Fox could barely muster a nod before Wolf took him by the hand and both of them sat with their backs against the Great Fox's tail. With the blast zone gone, the ship was now slowly drifting through the skies, presumably heading back to the bay from which it originally departed.  
    After a few moments of silence, Fox was able to compose himself a little more, turning back to face a preoccupied Wolf looking back at him. The lupine was quite clearly trying to think of something useful to say. He seemed to be trying his best to abandon his provoking and snarky persona for a moment so he could discover what was wrong with Fox.  
    "I'm sorry", Fox started slowly, "I just really need to know. Did you plan my father's assassination back then?". Surprisingly, those words did nothing to bring that anger back to Fox. Seeing Wolf so uncharacteristically eager to help him soothed his nerves somewhat.  
    A glimpse of recollection rushed through Wolf's eyes, "No, I didn't", he said with the softest voice his rough throat was able to create, "After Pigma killed your father and joined Andross he was assigned to complete Star Wolf's crew, along with Oikonny".  
    That was the answer Fox had wanted to hear ever since he met up with Wolf in Smash. No, ever since he first met Wolf in battle. Still, as he finally listened to it, it didn't do anything to make him feel better or worse. Deep down he had always known that Wolf wouldn't have killed James, that was never the problem.  
    "I respected James more than anyone else", Wolf continued, "I also hated him more than anyone else, that much is true, but I would never have killed him", the lupine looked at the floor, "That's also why I dismissed Pigma out of the team as soon as the Lylat Wars ended, I couldn't stand working with him after what he had done".  
    Even if Wolf had never respected Corneria, he had respected James. Still, Fox was already sure about all of that. For some reason, the answer he had desired for so long was far from being the one he actually needed.  
    "That's not what you had asked, though", Wolf completed carefully, looking back at Fox, "You said I killed you".  
    That affirmation lingered in the air for longer than it should have. Having that discussion with Wolf put far more pieces into place than the vulpine had anticipated. His feelings, which were before a complete mystery to both of them, were now completely obvious to him.  
    "I am James", Fox finally said, "I mean, I see myself as James, a continuation of his work".  
    "I guess that vision me beating you senseless didn't help", Wolf suggested, resisting the mocking snark that wanted to form in his muzzle, "It was, uh, both you and your dad I was beating up".  
    "I guess so", Fox agreed, "When he died, I had barely even finished the academy. Looking back on it, he didn't leave me anything other than his legacy. When I finished my studies and took control over Star Fox, I didn't have anything that defined me except the wish to be more like him. Now that Lylat is gone, there's nothing left for me to follow after".  
    "That's where you're wrong, pup", Wolf was quick to respond, and this time he actually seemed certain in what he was doing, "You're far more than James ever was, you don't need to follow anyone's footsteps".  
    "Am I really, though?", Fox pondered, "Everything I ever did was for him. So I wouldn't disappoint Corneria. So that Star Fox would still mean as much to the people as it did back in his day".  
    "Yeah, but the James people heard of wasn't the real James", Fox raised a brow back at Wolf's response, "He had never fought for the good of the people, he fought for Corneria and Corneria only. You didn't follow that James's footsteps, you followed the footsteps of the James the people knew. You weren't influenced by the nationalism that flooded his mind, you were influenced by all the good he managed to bring. The real James would have never been able to defeat the Aparoid Queen, he wouldn't have been willing to team up with people from Sargasso even if it was his only hope of saving Lylat", Wolf had turned his gaze back at Fox with an unseen before intensity, "He didn't fight for the good of the people, he fought for justice!".  
    That had been a hard lesson that Wolf had to learn. A lot of the time just didn't mean good. To serve justice meant to serve the law, even if that law was flawed.  
    Wolf had seen that first hand in the dwellers of Sargasso. The oppression of their home colonies was completely supported by Corneria's law. It had always been just, it was necessary so that life could prosper in Corneria. Except for the lupine, all for all the people he'd grown with, it had never been a good thing.  
    Fox had managed to rise above his father's legacy when he stood up not only for the wellbeing of Corneria's citizens but also for the wellbeing of everyone else that lived in the Lylat system.  
    The vulpine's tears started burning a little less as he mustered a smile back at Wolf. The lupine responded by wobbling closer to Fox, holding his hand a little tighter.  
    That situation would have immediately put Fox in alert mode before. That time, however, it felt right.  
    "You're better than James", Wolf completed, "You're good, Fox".  
    Wolf was also good. He had never tried to fight for justice, that's why his intentions had always been pure. That's why, even when he didn't make the best choices, he had always fought for what he believed in.  
    Fox had needed Wolf as much as Wolf had needed Fox. They had their desires twisted by their creation, Wolf by the Cornerian hating criminals of Sargasso, and Fox by his Cornerian loving father. It was only by their connection that they were able to break that pattern and make themselves their own people.  
    They both understood that perfectly as they looked back at each other, far closer than they originally intended on being. They were trapped in Darkhon's world now, but they had never felt freer than they felt at that moment.  
    They had their own desires and, for once in their lives, it wasn't a matter of if they were with or against Corneria, if they were with, or against justice. For once in their lives, they were fighting for the same thing.  
    They were fighting for good.  
    Fox smiled slightly at Wolf, squishing his hand back. They stared at each other for a few more meaningful seconds, the unsaid word between them were clearly heard by both, "Thanks, Wolf", the vulpine finally said.  
    "Hey, no need to thank me, pup", Wolf faced a sly grin against Fox's genuine smile. He looked as though he wanted to continue with a snarky response, but their exchange was interrupted by the ball of light that wavered close to them.  
    "Don't get too happy now", Wolf warned, "Daddy issues aren't officially solved 'til you talk with the big guy", He could see Fox looked a little better now, there wasn't much need to bother forcing himself to sound comforting.  
    Fox would have prefered if Wolf had used other words to describe the situation, but he was right: there was still stuff left to address. The vulpine lifted his hand to grab James's spirit as it neared him.  
    "Uh, nice to see you again, old man", the vulpine said, lifting the spirit to the skies, "Have a good one".  
    Streaks of light bled into his fingertips before rushing to the skies. James Mccloud was now free.  
    Much like the chains that held James captive in that world, Fox's need for his father had also been broken. The man was no longer an empty construct of heroism dwelling within his mind. He was also no longer the perfect icon he had to base himself in if he wanted to be something.  
    He could see past that now. James was a great pilot and his intentions were good. He wasn't perfect, however, and as much as Fox wanted to absorb what was good about James, he also needed to watch out for all of his father's bad parts.  
    Fox had become more than James, his willingness to do what's right had been able to accomplish a lot more than his father's willingness to do what's just.  
    Through that mean of thinking, Fox had been able to accept Wolf's help during the Aparoid Invasion. During which he learned that he and the lupine had far more in common than they originally thought they had. Both of them wanted to do what's right.  
    "So, that's that", Fox discreetly let go of Wolf's hand, which he'd still been holding. Again.  
    "Yeah", the lupine watched the clouds run past them, "What now"  
    "We go back to Isabelle and Pit and tell them what happened"  
    "Not what I mean, pup", Wolf corrected, "What do we do after that"  
    "Oh, Darkhon still needs to be dealt with, I also want to find Falco. Snake was working on some intel before I found you, so we could check if he already -"  
    "Still not what I mean, pup", The lupine tried once again, "You and me, are we sticking together?"  
    "Oh", Fox actually thought he heard a question mark back there. Usually, he would never willingly be a part of Wolf's team unless it was extremely necessary for survival. After that whole adventure they'd been through, though, it felt like it wouldn't hurt to spend some extra time with Wolf O'Donnell, "Yeah, I think that'd be nice if it's okay with you".  
    "Well, not like I know anybody else around here", Wolf smiled, just a teeny tiny bit, "Strategically valuable at best, fun at worst"  
    Fox laughed back at him.  
    They would have talked a little more were it not for The Great Fox having finally gotten back to the bay where it had originally been parked.  
    When they got back to the park they'd left Pit and Isabelle in, things were in utter chaos. Not as in a battle that was currently taking place there, but as in a batlle that had definitely just taken place there. Isabelle was sitting in the hunk of her new ship with Pit by her side, surrounding them were the remains of what seemed like at least 6 guardians.  
    "What the hell happened here?", Fox asked her when he and Wolf arrived.  
    "Hi, Mr. Fox!", Isabelle said cheerfully, "We kept watch while the two of you did your thing inside the bay. Turns out guardians are way easier to beat once you're actually in an open space and with a well-suited weapon!"  
    "Yeah! We did all that!", Pit also cheered on. Both Wolf and Fox had a hard time believing he contributed that much to the fight as Isabelle did with her fighter jet, but they let him off the hook for once.  
    After a bit more babbling, both Isabelle and Pit took flight once again. This time they were finally heading for Lady Palutena.  
    As for Wolf and Fox, they agreed on going back to the woods to meet up with Snake and discover the location of some other spirits.  
    Not now, though. It had been a long day. That park they were in was actually pretty beautiful, the robot parts scattered around it actually provided some really provocative imagery, which Wolf appreciated a lot.  
    It had been a criminally long time since both of them had ever had the chance to just sit down in a nice wooden bench and take in the view. Especially with someone that they'd just discovered they held especially dear to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh god  
> This was a really really fun thing to write. It's the first time I actually write something this long and it's also my first time publishing any of my writing on a fic site so, yeah.  
> Thank you guys so much for sticking with me, I'm really tired right now so I'm just gonna keep this short. Please leave some feedback down there if you're in the mood for it, it really means a lot!


End file.
